Epiphany
by Lapis Love
Summary: Bonnie Bennett and Mikael Mikaelson are on their way to conquering the supernatural world, only there's something in the way, and that something or more to the matter someone has a hold on Bonnie that gets unleashed in a moment of weakness. However, will Bonnie realize there's something she needs more than a pair of blue eyes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: All righty. Blame Kian at Comic Con for this, and Sebastian Roche's apparent love for all things Kat Graham. Let me break this down. The first half of this story I wrote months ago for my dear friend PEL1, emailed it to her, got her feedback, and then I left it alone. Then I got to talking with JazzyWazzy08 about me taking over one of her story ideas featuring Bikael (Bonnie x Mikael) as the pairing, but I was staunch in my decision not to do anymore major story projects. But then I got to writing and came up with something that can kind of gel these two ideas together. I don't intend this to be long. This will probably be a two maybe three shot at the most. I'm shooting for two because my workload already makes my head spin.**

**For those patiently awaiting updates to my other fics, they are coming. Just please bare with me as my muse dictates my writing schedule. Thanks and enjoy!**

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Mystic Falls—2015**

A game of tug-of-war ensued over the glass tumbler in his hand. The brown liquid spilled over the rim, and painted the floor until finally, using her Gift, the glass went flying out of his hand and crashed against the wall.

"Listen to me!" Bonnie railed. "This is what you do all the time. You think it's perfectly normal to just go around and kill whatever you perceive as an obstacle, and think nothing of it."

"I'm a vampire," he deadpanned, eyes wild. "I did it for you, Bonnie! Get that through your thick skull. It wasn't some whim or because I was bored. It came down to you or her and I chose_ you_. And I'd do it again."

"Tatiyana was my friend, Damon. My _friend,_" Bonnie stressed emphatically._ "_She was important to me, and you just killed her."

"I don't care about her or Loosey Goosey or anyone else. I only care about you. Why are you acting brand new like you don't know this about me? I'm single-minded and selfish. You've known that since the beginning. You signed up for this knowing this is the way I am."

"Yes, I know that but by now I thought you would have learned to care about other people than those you deem worthy of your time," the frustrated witch argued.

"Look, I did what was necessary because the two of you were about to open up a portal or lower a veil or some stupid shit like that and plunge the world into hell. Is that what you would have wanted? I chose the lesser of the two evils." Damon held out his left hand, "One less witch in the world," then he held out his right, "versus the apocalypse. I think I just saved the world, thank you very much," he finished with his nose turned up in the air.

Bonnie shook her head, aghast and mortified that the man she loved could be so cold and callous. She knew that about Damon's character. She just would have thought that after being together for a year and a half he would have grown in some areas. Evolved. Apparently that wasn't the case.

"You just don't understand, do you?" she questioned, brow furrowed. "You think Morgana was leading us by the nose the whole time and we didn't know what we were doing?"

Damon stared at her feeling uncertain for a moment.

Bonnie's voice softened. "The spell we were doing wasn't opening up a door to the Other Side. We were about to entomb Morgana, turn her into stone."

A question mark flashed over Damon's head.

A pained smile graced Bonnie's face. If there was one thing Damon hated was seeing Bonnie cry and knowing he was the cause of her tears ripped him a new one every time.

"She's still out there doing everything in her power to bring her dead son back, and my friend…died for nothing. Just like Grams."

The anvil dropped and flattened him like a pancake. Earning Bonnie's trust, respect, but above all that her love had been difficult especially when she blamed him and his brother for her grandmother's death. But he had made a secret vow to himself he wouldn't do anything to make Bonnie regret her decision in being with him, in starting a life with him. And he did everything in his power to make up for that irreplaceable loss in her life.

Now it was all ending, sliding through his fingers like sand. Damon knew it was coming. Could hear it like a roaring locomotive.

"Bonnie…" he reached for her and she took a step back.

"I can't do this, Damon. You hurt people, you kill people. I know it's a part of your nature. I know you see it as a means to an end, but at some point a line has to be drawn," Bonnie swallowed thickly, her throat burning, her tear ducts working over time. "You crossed the line tonight. Instead of waiting and asking what we were doing, you took one look at the situation, came to your own conclusion, and you killed Tatiyana without a second thought. I know you think you did the right thing, but…you didn't."

Damon watched in horror as Bonnie pulled off the promise ring he had given her from her finger. She dropped it on a nearby table.

"Bonnie…please…I can fix this," he pleaded.

"There's nothing to fix," the young witch replied sadly. "Good bye, Damon."

He vampire sped over to the door to block the exit. Things couldn't just end like this. Yes, he fucked up. Hugely! There was no denying it, and he would spend a lifetime, a millennium making it up to her. He'd buy her an island! He'd do whatever it took to correct the colossal mistake he made. He just had to get through to her!

"Bonnie," Damon caught her by the arms. "Please…we can talk about this. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for killing Tatiyana. You're right I should have waited. I should have trusted that you'd do the right thing in the end like you always do."

Biting her lip, Bonnie couldn't bring herself to look at him because if she did she'd waiver. She'd see the earnestness in his eyes along with his love and desperation to keep her in his life, but she couldn't let Damon off the hook. Not this time. The pain of Tatiyana's death was too raw, too fresh, and the fact the man—vampire—she loved was responsible for taking her away, Bonnie felt sick and feverish with anger. She was trying so _hard _not to hate Damon, but the longer she remained in his presence the harder it was becoming.

Placing her hand on top of his, she delivered a small electric shock that instantly made him release her.

Damon grunted while his knees buckled.

"Move or its going to get worse," she promised.

"Baby, please listen to me…" he tried once more.

"I'm done listening and I'm tired, Damon. So tired of always…just move!"

Obstinate as ever, Damon refused to step aside and let Bonnie Bennett walk out of his life. "I'm not letting you go."

Bonnie laughed humorlessly. "You actually think you have a choice. Fine," touching his cheek, she stared lovingly into his eyes knowing what she was about to do would hurt her more than him. Witches, especially in her line had their own brand of compulsion similar to that of vampires.

Damon's eyes became opaque. He knew what she was doing but he couldn't fight it. _Don't do this, _he implored.

"From this moment on we're nothing to each other. Not friends. Not lovers. Not associates. Nothing. You won't remember our relationship, our history, what we could have been. You won't remember…" her voice cracked but Bonnie pushed on, "You won't remember our love. I'll just be that witch you couldn't stand. You'll move on and so will I. We're done. Over," Bonnie dropped her hand.

She watched as Damon's eyes fluttered as if waking from a dream. She watched with her heart splintering right down the middle as the last of the love for her that shone in his eyes dissolved until there was nothing left. Nothing. Damon blinked and then stared at Bonnie, perplexed on why she was looking at him like that, and curious about why she was in his house. A smirk graced his lips as he moved past her like she was the most insignificant thing in the world.

"What are you doing here this time of night, Judgey?"

That insufferable tone in his voice had returned.

Wiping her tears, Bonnie gripped the doorknob and wrenched it open. "Saying good bye."

Damon walked over to the wet bar and poured himself a drink. "Going on a vacation?"

"Something like that," Bonnie slipped out of the house, into the night, and closed the door on what could have been her future.

**Six Years Later**

A luxurious vehicle with heavily tinted windows that were also bulletproof rolled to a stop along a curb. High beam lights illuminated the dark path that led to a garden, a garden filled with the dead. The soft whish of windshield wipers brushing the raindrops aside was the only sound to be heard along with the purring of a V8 engine.

"I don't know why you insist on coming here each year."

"Tradition," a subdued voice said in reply. "So many things went wrong. Including what happened to him. He shouldn't have died."

"Unfortunately they don't call it fate for nothing, darling. He was human and last I checked they die."

"He was killed," she reminded the man sitting across from her on the plush leather seat.

A dark chuckle dismissed her claim. "Killed or not, old age would have caught up to him and did him in or any number of diseases, or human aliments that plague the body. There's nothing you can do for him. You can't bring him back and you can't go back in time. This is a waste and I'm tired of you slipping into depression each year around this time."

"Then stop coming with me!" she snapped and then unclipped her seat belt and bolted out of the car.

Bonnie's heels clacked nosily and aggressively on the paved road in front of her but her steps were impeded by the closed and locked gates before her. With a few whispered words, the lock snapped clean off, the chain fell away, and the rusty gates swung open, groaning in protest. Continuing on her mission, Bonnie exited off the pathway and walked along the grass, stilettos sinking into the damp ground.

She found her way to his tombstone by heart and once she stood in front of Jeremy Gilbert's headstone, Bonnie didn't sink down to her knees. Not this time. As each year of his anniversary passed, she found herself growing stronger—emotionally speaking. Jeremy had been her first love, killed mercilessly and needlessly.

But it was love from an unexpected source that made Bonnie put away those apocalyptic plans, and focus on a future. A future filled with happiness and long days.

However, that happiness crashed and burned like everything else in her life. Bending over, Bonnie brushed away dirt and other debris off Jeremy's headstone and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her stylish trench coat. If he saw her today he wouldn't recognize her. Gone was the small town girl and in her place was a metropolitan socialite with power.

Tons of power.

"I've haven't forgotten and I'll never forget, Jeremy," Bonnie's chin quivered and she stood in the light drizzle, viridian eyes fixed on cream limestone.

Her ears picked up on the sound of someone drawing near. Bonnie didn't need to look over her shoulder to know it was him. Wordlessly her hand slipped out of her pocket and clasped his cold palm, their fingers sliding and interlocking with one another.

"I don't understand your need to make a pilgrimage here every year. He was your first love, but not your greatest one. I know who that honor belongs to."

Bonnie finally detached her gaze from the tombstone in front of her and focused them on his distinguished and mature face. Blond hair cut close to the scalp, blue eyes that were cold no matter the occasion or season, but it was that accent that usually did her in and made her toes curl in her shoes.

"Jealous?" Bonnie remarked playfully although her heart was far from being in a playful mood.

The man beside her shook his head. "I have no reason to be jealous because it's _my_ bed that you warm every night."

"Not every night," Bonnie corrected dryly.

"True. You do enjoy being difficult on occasion. Am I to sleep alone tonight or will you join me?"

Bonnie gave a non-committal shrug. "I want to stay overnight."

"Out of the question. That's not part of the agreement."

"Mikael," Bonnie reproached. "I just need tonight. You know I'm not going anywhere."

Mikael Mikaelson gritted his teeth and faced the defiant and devastatingly beautiful witch standing beside him.

It was not love in his heart that made him indulge her whims. It was not the euphoria that spread and warmed his cold, empty soul whenever she smiled in appreciation when he made some grand gesture to show his affection for her. It was the bloodline she descended from, the power she contained, the importance of her life that he couldn't stand the idea of her spending one night away from the compound. From him. This place held too many traps for her to fall into, and Bonnie oftentimes was filled with wanderlust so relentless they traveled from place to place unable to satisfy Bonnie's needs. Town, country, city, state didn't fucking matter because something was always _wrong _in Bonnie's eyes.

He hated coming here. This place was wretched and reminded him of his human life. Reminded Mikael of his family who were all but dead to him and scattered all over the globe in a dumb effort to steer clear of him. His own personal issues with Mystic Falls aside, Mikael always feared the day that Bonnie thought back to when she was twenty and walked away from the vampire she stood aside and watched him fall back in love with her former best friend.

"Be that as it may," Mikael finally replied, "I can't leave you here unprotected."

Bonnie snorted and then showed Mikael her right hand that instantly burst into flames. "I think I'm the last person who needs protection."

He had to smirk at her display, and shifted a little in his Armani loafers at the activity that flared to life in his pants.

"My answer is still no," Mikael ruled.

"And you know there's no fortress secure enough that can keep me locked up. I'm asking you not to fight me on this, Mikael. Just one night away from everything."

"From me."

Bonnie went mute and allowed Mikael to draw his own conclusion from her silence. They might have spent the last five years together, but there was no ironclad commitment between them. Not for lack of trying on his part. He proposed to her twice a year effectively ruining her birthday and Christmas. Mikael slithered into her life when she was at an emotional low; whispered sweet nothings in her ear and convinced her that she needed someone like him in her life. She knew exactly who he was. The father of the Originals—apart from Klaus. For a thousand years he hunted his illegitimate son with nothing to show for it at the end except for a stake through the chest.

Yet Mikael had been there when Bonnie thought she had no one left. It was hard to remain in town and watch the vampire she loved resume his chase after her best friend, and then a horrid sire bond formed between them when Elena was converted against her wishes due to an accident involving Mikael's only daughter—Rebekah.

As soon as Bonnie graduated she made a beeline out of Mystic Falls and only returned on the anniversary of Grams' death. Then, naturally something traumatic had to happen.

Elena had killed her brother. She had yanked off Jeremy's ring during a bout of bloodlust and drained him dry. Once she came down from her high and realized what she did, Elena lost her mind, shut off her humanity, went on the run with both Salvatore's endlessly chasing after her. Bonnie honestly had no idea where she was now, and truthfully she didn't care.

Throughout it all, Mikael had been there for her. And she had thrived.

She was head over seven covens both domestic and international. Had friends in high places. Had a retinue of werewolves, vampires, hybrids, and yes witches at her disposal to be her muscle when necessary. In a roundabout sort of way she was a queen.

And Mikael was vying to be her consort.

It wasn't going to happen, though. Bonnie would be like Queen Elizabeth I and have no master.

Nodding his head in understanding, Mikael kissed their interlocked fingers. "So be it. _One _night. I'm ordering Faisal to guard you."

Sighing heavily and ready to object, Bonnie decided at the last second it would be worthless to argue with Mikael over this point. Besides, there was never any harm in having one of the best in the Draconian Guild the fiercest and deadliest fighters in Mikael's employ to have her back.

"Fine, but he remains hidden from my sight. I don't even want to hear him breathing."

"Are you done here?"

Bonnie looked at Jeremy's gravesite one final time. "Same time, same place next year. I want to see my grandmother before we leave."

"Very well," Mikael said dully. Squeezing her fingers, the Original Vampire hunter led Bonnie deeper into the cemetery.

Glowing blue eyes watched the pair walk off and melt into the darkness.

**:::::**

Bonnie may have strolled six paces inside the bedroom at the fortified neo-classical mini mansion when she froze. Paused. Halted all activity. Something wasn't right. Someone, better yet some_thing _had been inside her room, fingering her items, breathing in her scent as if branding it to its memory. Though nothing was disturbed or out of place, it was that feeling Bonnie had relied on heavily that alerted her when something dangerous was lurking hoping to make a meal out of her.

"Faisal," Bonnie called.

The six foot nine vampire materialized next to her, hand on the hilt of his sword looking ferocious and lethal. If his height wasn't intimidating enough his nearly black soulless eyes that sometimes flashed red whenever he was pissed usually did the trick. And Faisal had a _very _short fuse.

"What is it, madam?" his booming baritone voice nearly shook the room.

"Check the house and the perimeter. I think someone was here just a few minutes before we arrived."

Faisal nodded his raven-haired head and disappeared.

Being hunted was nothing usual and Bonnie had come to expect it. Being in the position she was in there were many who coveted what she had and would do anything to claim it for themselves. It was rare for Mikael not to be at her side. Her powers and abilities notwithstanding, not many wanted to tango with a vampire hunter that was over a thousand years old and preferred immortals as his entrée. Yes, Bonnie couldn't deny she needed Mikael and the legend that followed him; however, no one could protect her the way she could protect herself.

Everyone around her was nothing but formality, ancient protocols that very few in their lifestyle actually honored. But from time to time they brought a modicum of safety to Bonnie who invariably felt on guard.

And she knew why that was it and it had little to do with her enemies wanting her head on a platter.

Trailing around the room to carry out her own inspection, Bonnie sensed the intruder was male. He spent a lot of time smelling her perfumes which had been unpacked by her assistant whose job it was to unload everything Bonnie needed for an overnight stay.

The lingering trace of energy led Bonnie over to the bureau and she pulled open the top drawer were her French lace panties and underwire bras were placed. Whoever he was really liked the red boy shorts. He had picked those up and fondled the seat of her underwear with his thumb.

Bonnie should have felt repulsed by that, but instead she flushed. She didn't need anymore evidence to convict her suspect. She knew who it was.

She also knew he was standing behind the door leading to the sitting room.

"Get your ass out here…_Damon_."

Time ticked away at the clock and the door opened and a figure emerged.

Bonnie cooled her features though on the inside she began quaking. Her eyes hadn't landed on Damon in six years and he was just as she left him. Immortally perfect; his only flaws being his personality and need for destructive behavior. She could start things off with asking the typical questions like: How did you find me? How did you know I was in town? But that wasn't nearly as important as…

"Why the fuck are you here?"

A cocky smirk was her answer. Damon sauntered over to the windows and peered out. The view was of the picturesque manicured back lawn. Boring. Safe. Pretentious. This place wasn't Bonnie. Nothing here, not the opulent 18th century French and Italian furnishings, the cold empty halls, galleries, and ballrooms said Bonnie Bennett. The true Bonnie could be found in the perfumes she liked to wear and the panties that covered up his favorite parts of a woman.

"_What _are you doing here, Damon?" Bonnie's impatience slipped out. She wanted him gone, and if Faisal returned he wouldn't hesitate to remove Damon's head from his shoulders, no questions asked.

"You never stop by the boardinghouse to say hello whenever you come back here one night out of the year to pay your respects to your Grams and Jeremy." Damon faced her with accusation clearly written in his eyes. "If I didn't know any better I would say you're purposely avoiding me."

Bonnie snorted and with the twitch of her powers, pushed the bedroom door closed and locked it.

"Last I heard you had gone off to find Elena…after her slip," Bonnie slightly glared and moved into the sitting room where she flicked on the light.

"That's what you're calling it now? A slip? Not a vicious premeditated murder?" Damon goaded and leaned his frame against the door and crossed his arms over his chest.

The squeaking sound the sleeves of his leather jacket made Bonnie's teeth stand on end. He really was a fossil. Nothing about him had changed, but she still wanted an answer to her question. What did Damon want from her, but wait…

She spun around to face him. "How did you know…?"

Damon shrugged in a non-committal fashion knowing it would piss her off. But then he zoomed over to Bonnie standing so close to her that her chest brushed enticingly against his open jacket. Damon's eyes perused her face taking into account that like wine Bonnie aged gracefully. Her eyes were hard and looked out of place with her soft features. Those plump cheeks, that proud forehead, that regale nose, those lips that curled upward reminding him of an archer's bow. This was no little teenage girl standing in front of him, but a twenty-five nearly twenty-six year old woman glaring up at him.

Something quickened in his chest and the urge to grab her by the arms and…

He did just that. Grabbed Bonnie by the arms and thrust her up against the nearest wall. Fire ignited in those dark forest green orbs and he waited for Bonnie to roast his brain like a pig at a luau.

Nothing happened.

"You think your little witchy spell would hold for all eternity?" he growled, face dangerously close to hers, nose inhaling her scent, eyes measuring her pupil dilation unconsciously. Damon never wanted to hurt someone as much as he wanted to hurt Bonnie in this moment that he was hard. His anger spilled over and he tightened his hold on her arms.

"Let go of me," Bonnie demanded through clenched teeth. All she had to do was whisper Faisal's name and he would be here ready to slice Damon to pieces and serve him to the dogs.

"Why?!" he said between gritted teeth.

"Why what? You're not making sense."

"Why did you take away my memories of you, of us?! Why did you make me forget that I loved you and you loved me?"

Bonnie's eyes widened in horror. "Fai…"

She couldn't get out the rest of Faisal's name before lips were smashed into hers.

Chapter end.

**A/N: I know, this chapter was more Bamon than Bikael, but Bikael is coming. And I borrowed Morgana from Merlin in case you were wondering who it was Bonnie and her friend Tatiyana were trying to stop in the beginning of the story. I may touch on that later, but don't hold me to that. **

**So since the show always "said" how powerful the Bennett's were but made them subsequently weak I just decided to make Bonnie an unofficial queen and head of several covens and I'll get into more of that in the next update. Let me know what you guys think and I'll be back as soon as I can with an update. Thank you guys so much for reading. Until next time, love you. **


	2. Never Was a Homecoming Queen

**A/N: Hello my lovelies, thank you so much for reviewing, adding to your lists. I really do appreciate it. So some aren't really sure how to take Bikael. I know it seems kind of odd, but what can I say, I'm intrigued by them. I basically crackship Bonnie with almost everything so thank you for having an open mind. This chapter is basically all Bamon. Kian feels and Kat's song "Power" is pretty much responsible for this. Enjoy!**

**Special author's note:**** I'm going on a two week writing vacation so I can recharge my batteries. So this may be the last update to any of my stories until the second week in August. Just wanted to let you guys know. **

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**The Past**

"_I'm not a nice person, Bonnie. I hurt people."_

_Bonnie wasn't sure why he was telling her all of this. They had only met seven days ago and Bonnie had only seen him sparingly since then. Still she remained locked in the greenhouse with him as the storm continued to rage outside, unable to move because she was cold, but it didn't match the coldness she saw in his blazing orbs. _

"_Why are you saying this to me?" Bonnie asked and was proud of the fact her words came out steady and strong although she was beginning to quake._

_He noticed her shaking and instinctively moved to get closer to her, but then he stopped—balled his hands into fists and finally looked away. _

"_You need to know the truth," he replied vaguely unwilling to elaborate any farther._

"_What truth? You're talking in circles. You hurt people? What do you do to them?" Bonnie was hoping this wasn't his way of trying to tell her he was a serial killer. That would just be her luck and her ass if it were true. _

_His jaw tensed and he looked at her again wishing he could stop that insistent need to get to know her that had been building inside of him since the first time he laid eyes on her. _

_Thunder boomed and the force of it was enough to rattle the old windows of the greenhouse. One window unfortunately shattered and in the next second glass was raining down. On top of her. He moved without conscious thought and yanked her out of the way. Bonnie let out a loud shriek and clutched at his black T-shirt, burying her face in his chest for protection. He stiffened because she was so warm and her smell was so sweet and innocent that he instantly felt his gums pound in response. _

_Bonnie gasped again when she realized that she was being held by arms that felt unreal, inhuman. She snapped her head up and instantly got lost in a blue haze of lust. She swallowed reflexively and wondered if he might kiss her like she was a movie starlet, but then she called herself an idiot. They were strangers and she didn't go around kissing guys she barely knew. That was more of her best friend's thing not hers. _

_Yet she couldn't help yearning for a taste those rose red lips of his. His arms tightened around her as if he had read her thoughts. _

_Their eyes connected and Bonnie's hand of its own volition began to trace the shape of his whiskered jaw. His skin was so cold—ice was probably a couple of degrees warmer than he was. And underneath the ice-cold skin, it was nothing but a solid mass that didn't twitch or respond to her touch. _

"_What are you?" Bonnie asked, spellbound, then her eyes narrowed with suspicion. _

"_I'm…"_

_His answer was interrupted when the door to the greenhouse flew open bringing in the cold air and freezing rain._

"_There you are!" Elena entered the greenhouse and stopped once she noticed that Damon was clutching her best friend. "What are you doing?" she demanded sharply._

_Damon's jaw hardened and he rose to his feet unaware of the fact he was holding Bonnie bridal style. "What does it look like I'm doing?"_

_Elena nervously licked her lips. She knew bringing Bonnie here was a bad idea. Her mahogany eyes stretched to her best friend who looked absolutely besotted as she kept her gaze locked on Damon. This was not good._

"_Bonnie are you okay?" Elena asked trying to keep her voice steady._

_Blinking her eyes, Bonnie stared at Elena quizzically. "I'm fine."_

_The brunette nodded her head and then gave Damon a pointed look that essentially ordered him to put her friend back on her feet. Damon ignored Elena and looked back down at the young woman in his arms. She was so very tiny, but she was not a fragile doll. There was something inside of her that Called to him. And he was going to find out _exactly _what it was. _

_And murder it. _

"_I guess you better put me down," Bonnie said although something deep inside was screaming he do the complete and total opposite. _

_Damon brought those amazingly cobalt eyes back on Bonnie before lowering her to the ground. The minute she cleared his arms he put a huge amount of space between them. _

_Elena extended her hand to Bonnie who clasped it and reluctantly allowed herself to be drawn away. Yet that didn't stop her from looking back over her shoulder, her eyes on Damon._

"_Thank you," she said and as she expected Damon said nothing in return. He didn't even blink._

"_Come on, Bonnie," Elena pressed and pulled her best friend behind her. Once they stepped out into the rain, Elena had to resist pushing Bonnie's hair out of the way to check her neck. "Are you sure you're okay?_

_Bonnie nodded though she felt light-headed all of a sudden. _

"_What were you two doing in the greenhouse?" Elena persisted._

"_I went there out of curiosity and I guess…he followed me."_

"_Can you do me a favor and try not to be alone with Damon?"_

"_Why?" Bonnie's eyebrows narrowed. _

_Elena was caught between a rock and hard place. She knew Damon's secret, she knew Stefan's secret, and she wanted to protect her friends from them both. However, Elena loved Stefan and she was beginning to accept what he was. But Damon, Damon couldn't be trusted. Especially not with a young girl. He was a vampire after all. _

"_He's…an ass," Elena replied lamely. She wanted to tell Bonnie the truth so badly, but she was terrified of the fallout. If she could just keep them a part, made sure Bonnie didn't trust him, she wouldn't have to worry about Bonnie trying to seek him out. For any reason. _

_Bonnie snorted. "Most guys are assholes, Lena and if you haven't noticed I can deal with them. I'm going to need something better than that."_

_Licking her lips and feeling desperate, Elena looked Bonnie in the eye. Sometimes you had to lie to protect people, right? "He likes me."_

"_Oh," Bonnie said in a subdued tone. But if that were the case why had Damon looked at her like…like…hell Bonnie didn't know! Something had happened between them. She didn't know what it was, didn't know what name to call it, but it was as real as the raindrops wetting her clothes. Damon wanted something from her. The what, was the question. _

**The Present**

Memories attacked her like the stinging prick of falling into ice water. The sharpness of it stole her breath with the same veraciousness as Damon plundering her mouth with his spongy tongue. His fingers knotted in her hair, wrenching her neck almost painfully backwards so he could take more of her mouth and eviscerate the steel walls Bonnie had constructed around herself.

Her hands fisted his shirt and battled his mouth, biting his lips, the desire to hurt him nearly brutal as she bobbed and weaved her tongue around his. Her lungs were dying from oxygen deprivation and common sense. A swift kick of self-preservation told her she needed to put a stop to this before Faisal barged in.

What the hell was taking him so long to report back to her anyways?

Bonnie didn't spend too much time wondering where her guardsman was as she drowned in the heady concoction Damon had created by coming here, and for lack of a better phrase forcing himself on her.

She grunted as she sent Damon flying through the open doors of the sitting room where he conveniently landed on the bed. Bonnie marched like an army general and climbed up on the bed, straddling his waist, locking his head between her hands before taking his mouth as if life itself hinged on this one moment.

Damon sat up on the bed, fingers pulling down the strap of Bonnie's dress, mouth moving to attack the skin that had been revealed to his impatient and hungry mouth. Bonnie's head fell backwards, eyes closed, as she tunneled her fingers through the silky strands of hair she used to love tugging.

His tongue danced across her skin like a whip. Bonnie flinched slightly when his fang scraped her shoulder. She immediately started bleeding, but then hissed when Damon lapped up her spilled blood with his tongue. Bonnie stared down at him and saw those terrifying red veins writhing underneath his eyes. She felt his bloodlust along with the bulge protruding from the middle of his thighs sprouting her own arousal to weep from her core and wet her panties. It had been years since she felt this out of control, or more appropriately it had been six years since Bonnie allowed herself to feel lust of any kind. Mikael tried to inspire some kind of passion out of her, but all of her attempts to reciprocate had been half-hearted.

With Damon it was simple, like walking, like talking, like existing. It just happened. A single look, touch, or spoken word could have her panting in heat, and wetter than getting out of a pool.

Nothing between them in this area had changed.

Damon trailed his lips up her neck, hands palming her ass, until he pushed the hair off her neck. His fangs had lengthened of their own accord and he had very little control on making them recede into his gums. Plus he didn't want them to. He wanted Bonnie. He wanted her blood because in his mind she belonged to him just as he belonged to her.

The determined vampire eyed Bonnie for a second until he was pushed back on the bed, his lips becoming trapped between pearly white teeth once more. His wrists captives of her hands as she held him pinned against the silk sheets.

Mikael would be extremely disappointed by her actions, Bonnie thought idly. How many nights had he sat there while she cried into the bottom of a shot glass over the vampire who was moaning, groaning, and grinding underneath her? How many times had he had to stop her from taking a knife to her throat, wrist, heart because she was tired of being sad all the time? And here she was mewling like a bitch in heat because Damon finally uncorked himself from Elena's ass and remembered how they used to be.

At the thought of Elena, Bonnie jolted upright, green eyes glittering in the muted light streaming into the room. Her gaze traversed over Damon's perplexed expression before finally Bonnie un-straddled him, got off the bed, and fixed her clothes.

"What am I doing?" she posed that question to herself. "I'm not this person. I don't throw myself at anyone."

Breathing wasn't a necessity for a vampire but Damon was panting like an asthmatic. He rested his weight on his elbows, and observed in silent fury as Bonnie paced back and forth having a soliloquy.

She tasted like fire, like salt, like air, like life, like the most decadent blood he'd ever had the pleasure of drinking in one hundred and eighty years. He was hot for her. But she was with Mikael Fucking Mikaelson (honestly didn't see that coming), and not only that she erased his memories of them, of her! Damon was beyond livid and wanted to teach that beguiling and evil sorceress several lessons while bent over his knee. The time they wasted. The life they could have had. Bonnie took it all away with little regard to how it would affect him.

She was apart of him. The physical manifestation of his soul.

Bonnie swung around to face Damon, eyes narrowed with solar flares erupting from them. "How did you get your memory back?"

"Under terrible circumstances," Damon shook his dark head at Bonnie and then moved with fluid grace off the bed and was standing right in front of her leaving very little breathing room. His hand reached up to cup her cheek though it warred with his impulse to break her face. He loved Bonnie and he hated her.

From the way she was glaring up at him the feeling was mutual.

"When it all came back I was prepared to rip this world a part to look for you, Bonnie. Then you sauntered into town…with _him_, and I left you alone. But I watched you. Tried to follow you but I always managed to lose your scent. You would vanish into thin air then pop up back here one night out of the year. I started to live for that night where I could just…why?" Damon ended on a pained sob.

Bonnie was getting choked up as well. "I had to do what I had to do. You hurt me and I couldn't forgive you. So I wiped your memory of us and I never looked back. You were happy again. Chasing after Elena."

Damon's face hardened and he looked away. "You know that makes you no better than me, Bonnie and yet you still seem fit to condemn me for being what I am."

"We don't have time to get into this, Damon. Not here and not now. You shouldn't have been able to remember…"

"Well, I did. I might not know all there is to know about magic but I do know about loopholes. Everything came back."

"How?"

"When I killed Elena!"

Bonnie gasped sharply as her mouth fell into the shape of an O. "You killed Elena?"

Damon's veneer became impassive as if he were about to discuss running a raccoon over with his car.

"She was insane and uncontrollable after she killed Jeremy. Stefan and I had caught up with her in Toronto trying to convince her to come back to Mystic Falls so we could help her. Elena and Stefan got into a fight and she somehow got the upper hand and was about to stake my brother. So I staked her first. She said she didn't want to be saved, that she just wanted to die. So I granted her wish. The minute she was dead, I got the bitch headache of the century that could rival your migraines, and images from this life with _you _came flooding back in.

"I didn't think it was real, but when I questioned Stefan he finally broke down and admitted that you and I had fallen in love and we were happy until I fucked up and killed one your friends, and didn't give two shits that I had. He told me that you made him and everyone else promise to keep the truth from me. They were against it but did it anyways."

"Lord…Stefan is he…?" Bonnie looked up at Damon waiting for more details.

Finally his mercurial expression shifted to one of agony. "Stefan barely speaks me. He understands I didn't have a whole lot of options, but I know he hates that for once I chose him over my supposed love for Elena. The tables have turned. Now he's silently vowed to make my life a living hell. Go figure."

Blindly Bonnie felt for the edge of the bed and sat down. Elena was dead. How long ago was it that Damon had killed her? The queenly witch didn't know how to feel about the news. There was of course shock, then sadness, emptiness, and some other emotion she couldn't readily name. Elena was one of those people Bonnie never imagined dying because she had dedicated so much of her time, after she learned she was a witch, and before then really, protecting Elena. With her gone…with the entire Gilbert family now warming the earth with their cold, dead, decomposed bodies she felt horrible. But this also made Bonnie aware of something. She had never stopped loving Elena.

"Where is she buried?" Bonnie asked past the lump in her throat.

"Next to her father and mother."

"I'm sorry you had to kill her, and that Stefan hates you for it. I know how much she meant to you."

Damon shook his head. "Stefan and I will find common ground again like we always do. But I wasted too much time chasing after Elena like a fool because you…," the blue-eyed vampire trailed off feeling his anger mount. "You took everything away!"

"And I'm sorry for that." Damon's anger was a physical being that was about to clobber her. "I'm so sorry, Damon…I didn't know else to do." Pause. "You've had your memory back for the last six years?"

"Four and a half," Damon sat down beside her. "It's taken me this long to get over my anger with you. What am I saying? I'm still mad as hell you would do that to me, Bonnie. We could have worked things out, but you didn't even want to fuckin' try."

Bonnie hated when Damon was right. At the time she made her decision to wipe his memories, she had been emotional and didn't want to deal with him, work things out, or come to some kind of compromise. She just wanted out. A break. But most importantly she didn't want to hate him.

Before she got the chance to reply to his accusation, Damon rose from the bed. "Looks like we're about to have company in five seconds," and no sooner had those words left his mouth the door burst open and in walked the tallest vampire he had ever seen. Damon couldn't get a greeting out because the elongated vampire took one assessment of the situation and came to the most inaccurate conclusion.

"Faisal, don't!" Bonnie said with a slight delay and watched in slow motion though it happened far too fast for her human eyes to track, Faisal cross over the room, remove his sword and bury it two inches deep in Damon's neck.

She had no choice but to issue a command in his native language to get him to cease his actions before he removed Damon's head with one sweeping blow.

"_Ndalem!_ He is a friend; not an enemy. Remove your sword, Faisal and do it slowly."

No, no, no, Damon wanted to argue. If he did it slowly he'd feel every single painful moment of it, unless of course that's exactly what Bonnie wanted. He wanted to glare at her but his eyes were pierced tight in a poor attempt to stave off the bone lacerating pain he was currently experiencing.

Faisal did as his mistress bade, removed his steel and iron sword from the intruding vampire's neck, and quickly sheathed it.

"Penance, madam?" Faisal asked in a subdued tone.

"Forgiven. I need a moment."

"I'm afraid we don't have a moment, madam."

Bonnie looked towards the guardsman who entered the room, his lean frame filling up the doorway.

Damon eventually got to his feet, his hand going to the wound that was taking its sweet time to heal. He fixed his eyes briefly on Bonnie before honing in on the tall Asian man in the sharp white suit who looked more prepared to do an editorial spread than kill something. Part of him was more than aggravated Bonnie was surrounded by all these _males_. Though, in Damon's eyes there wasn't a damn thing pretty about the russet skin vampire who tried to decapitate him. He looked more demon than anything else, but even Damon could see women fawning all over themselves to get his attention.

The Asian dude was just another slap to his ego that Bonnie clearly didn't need him. Not for protection or entertainment anyway.

Bonnie rubbed her forehead wishing all these guys would get lost and leave her the fuck alone. This night by itself already put her under a tumult of emotional strain and having Damon here, kissing him, refreshing her mind on what she had missed and lacked for the last six years made her dizzy with nausea.

Pushing that aside, Bonnie motioned for her guardsman to step forward. "What is it, Kio?"

Kio bowed gallantly before her though his coal-black eyes trailed over to Damon trying to figure out who he was and why he was in his mistress' room. Kio stood to his full height and began addressing Bonnie specifically.

"I'm sorry to disrupt you during your holiday, madam but there's been an attack on the villa in Luxor."

Bonnie blanched and felt the floor slip out from under her feet. "What? When?"

"It happened just an hour ago."

"The girls?"

"They're all alive, safe, but shaken up. They're being transported to Seychelles as we speak. Mikael has dispatched the manticores to escort you to the safe house."

Bonnie cursed in frustration. "_That _is a bit damn much. Have the manticores go and protect the girls until I can get there. Where's Mr. Mikaelson?" the diminutive witch nearly spat in contempt.

Damon was so lost he didn't know what the hell was going on.

"He's waiting for you at the private air strip. I'll tell Sven to redirect the manticores to intercept anything standing between them and Seychelles. But at least one should travel with them."

"All right. Who led the attack?"

"Morgana," Kio deadpanned.

Bonnie snorted clearly not surprised. "That bitch just won't stop will she?"

"No, madam not until you're dead or she gets what she wants or both. Are you done here? We need to move."

"Give me a minute, Kio. Faisal, go with him. I'll meet you in the garage."

Both vampires bowed before her and vanished leaving Bonnie and Damon alone. She turned to face him and saw the cluelessness on his face.

"Care to fill in any blanks? Morgana is back in the picture?"

Bonnie sighed. She didn't have time to explain her elevated rank or the goings on, but she could tell Damon this much.

"Six years ago when Tatiyana and I attempted that entombing spell, Morgana no thanks you, managed to escape and allegedly went back to her dimension. But she popped up about two years later more determined than ever to bring her dead son back."

"But why did she come back to this realm to try to bring him back?" Damon pondered.

"I don't really know. The theory is she's been stripped of magic in her dimension, but she learned to leap frog through time and here for whatever reason, she has magic. So that left me no choice but to close every single door, portal, entryway to the Other Side. Things became so air tight Morgana couldn't even speak to her son through and by manifesting a likeness of his spirit. It's complicated to explain.

"When she found out what I had done she vowed to make my life hell. In between her threats and periodic attacks, I've become guardian of several covens."

"So I'm guessing it was a coven of witches that Morgana just attacked in Luxor to get your attention?"

"They aren't witches. My girls…they're oracles. Seventeen seers all raging in age from five years old to a hundred. Their protector, Maharet who I met traveling after graduating from high school, for lack of a better word granted me custody of them. I watch out for them. Make sure they're protected, and that no one learns what they are."

"Jesus," Damon ran a hand through his hair. He had no idea the enormity of Bonnie's life. Here he thought she just played house with Mikael. He couldn't fathom she'd be head of a coven, let alone seven and one of them consisting of oracles. Damon didn't even think they were real.

And, random thought, what the hell was a manticore?

"What the hell is a manticore?" Damon pulled one of his famous faces. "It sounds familiar, but I'm coming up empty."

"They are…well these appear human but their real form is the body of a lion with a scorpion tale and a human head. One could kill you from five hundred feet away and you'd never even know it. Google it. I really don't have time to explain. My girls need me and as long as Morgana is out there circling she's a threat to them."

"I just don't understand any of this, Bonnie," Damon licked his teeth. He had hoped to find some way to convince her to let him back into her life—after all she owed him for the shit she pulled—but would it be wise to get involved when clearly Bonnie was dealing with things way beyond his scope of expertise and comprehension? But he couldn't let her slip through his fingers. Not again.

"I don't understand it myself sometimes, Damon. Whatever you were hoping to accomplish by showing up here tonight, I'm sorry, but I don't have room-,"

He turned thunderous eyes on her. "Don't you_ dare _fucking say you don't have room for me! You know protecting you is what I do, Bonnie. I can come with you. I can help you keep the girls or whoever else safe. I can help you put that bitch Morgana down for good."

In Damon's mind if it weren't for Morgana coming to Mystic Falls the events that happened afterwards wouldn't have occurred, and he never would have lost Bonnie. He owed her a special "fuck you" in the form of his hand removing her heart from her chest cavity.

Sadly Bonnie shook her head. "You can't. I hate to say this but you're a baby just like me in all of this. Faisal is two thousand years old. Kio a little over six-hundred and is pyrotelekinetic, and there are countless others that are up there in age. They are powerful, fierce, and I don't…I don't want you in the middle of all of that. Plus, Mikael would have you killed on sight."

Damon smirked cockily. "Wouldn't be the first time someone's wanted me dead and it won't be the last. You think I'm scared of him and the boy band he has surrounding you? _Please. _I'm Damon fucking Salvatore and I'm the best at what I do."

Causing problems and starting mayhem, Bonnie thought. Yeah he did have the patent down on that. Bonnie knew Damon could hold his own against the Draconian Guard, but she couldn't risk him being hurt to prove a point.

He had entered her personal space again, and ran his blunt fingers down the slope of her cheek before pinching her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilting her head up.

"You know that if you run I'll just hunt you down."

Bonnie nodded. She reached up and unclasped the necklace that was around her neck. It was one of many talismans that she had. But this one had a twin. The two necklaces worked together, but the power it welded was weakened when separated. One necklace could be used to find the other. Bonnie placed the necklace into the palm of Damon's hand and closed his fingers over it.

"Use this…it'll help you find me. I have to go, Damon."

Bonnie managed to take a step away from him, but Damon caught her around the waist, dragged her back, and ravished her mouth until her knees felt like rubber.

He spoke with his forehead pressed against hers. "If Mikael touches what is mine I will _fucking_ end him, and that's not a threat, but a promise," he kissed her hard on the mouth before releasing her.

He did so just in time because the Asian guy showed back up trying not to look impatient.

"Madam…the car is ready."

Keeping her eyes on Damon, Bonnie walked backwards towards the door. She mouthed, "Find me."

He infinitesimally nodded his head. He would.

Chapter end.

**A/N: I'm bringing in some other mythical creatures into this simply because talking about vamps and wolves is stale especially when there are more badass creatures out there to be explored. And manitcores are from Greek and Persian mythology. Normally they don't take human form, but in this story they have that ability in order to blend into society. This may get a little fantasy from time to time, but I rarely write fantasy stuff so this should be fun. Bamon I guess you can argue have reconnected, but now that Damon is aware of the scope of responsibility on Bonnie's shoulders, if he follows her, which you know he will, what will Mikael do to make sure he isn't usurped? TBH, I don't know, but I'll definitely be marinating on it. Thank you guys for reading! Until next time, love you. **


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